republicans belie that 47% o the te is locked in, ignoring them isn't enough. >> the more desperate the republicans get, the more likely we are to e them take people off the good evening, americans. and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 40 days until the 2012 election. six days until the first presidential debate. 27 states allow americans to vote early. including two who started today. early signs show mt mney has woprmsn polls. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. seems like we've been waiting for this day for a long time. >> obama voters showed up in full force today in iowa. the election has begun in the first swing state with ely vong and the obama campaign isn't letting up. >> my job is not to worry about

those -- >> tonight, dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman-schultz on the democraticffort to get out the vote in iowa and beyond. "mother jones" unearthedet hestnepem his bain years. >> bain capital is an investment partnership. >> i'll ask robert reich what mitt romney means when he says he's harvesting companies. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> and the guy who has no idea wh htag t i comes to women has the nerve to call senator claire mccaskill unladylike. we'll bring you the latest on the todd akin disaster. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thank for watching. wa kked f 20 eltion in january. today it was the first state where people could cast their votes in person for the general election. the race is on. the race has been tight in iowa, but president obama has the momentum. the latest ten-day poll avere

frreleols"ws president obama with nearly a five-point lead. iowa voters were out in full force starting at 7:00 this morning. one election commissioner sa this could be a record-breaking year. this was by far the busiest opening day we've had in the ten yes i' beein oe. erin 1eoe. 100 would have been a good number. that's what it was four years ago. we're well past that. we'rnot to noon yet. >> look at the early voting numbers from 2008 to see how big a record breaker it could be this year. storec d% of all ballots were early voting favored barack obama over john mccain by 18 points. 58% to 40%. this year, 27 states and washington, d.c., will have early in-person voting prior to election day. thmps estin early voting participation at around 40% this year. two out of every five ballots will be filled out before

november 6th in this election cycle. today is truly the beginning of the end of the presidential election. ttosn akndidis in much advantage of the new voting in this dynamic thing we call american democracy. here's a look at mitt romney's field offices in iowa. the romney camp pass 12 outposts across the hawkeye ste. now take a look at president ams operation. e a ai has 66 of . these outpost offices. the president's campaign has a 5 1/2-1 advantage over mitt roey when it comes to operation in iowa. fed of presidential the campaigns. this is where campaigns stage the get out to vote efforts and organize volunteers. today, "the new york times" reported from polling places in iowa and found mostly outspoken obama supporters. pprs ooteathink that the romney as well?

or are they more likely to show up on election day? >> i don't see them. >> does this give you a false sense of security maybe? >> we're not taking anything for granted. i n't see them out here today. >> it's stunning for mitt romney to be so underprepared to fit theroungamen . hhee les the primary candidate. romney only started making frequent appearances in the state a week before the iowa caucuses. by then, it was too late. and he lost a tight race. romney's campaign should have refocused their efforts, but stead,hendhemselveses hdian, he first ballots were cast today. president obama is moving in for the final knockout punch. the obama campaign unveiled a full two-minute television video ad today with president directly addressing viewers. the ad is airing in four swing ates, inclinwa. it has the look and feel of a candidate's closing argument. >> it's time for a new economic patriotism. rooted in the belief that growing our economy agait with

a strong, thriving middle class. read my plan. d de yelit to governor romnes thanks for listening. >> the president introduced the theme of economic patriotism into his stump speech at a campaign event in virginia today. >> during campaign season, you always hear a lot about patriotism. well, you know what? it timfor new on patism. an economic patriotism rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class. >> this is a new line in the president's campaign speech. it's not simply a call for policies and programs to support thddla it's a contrast with his opponent. the contrast is on full display in another ad using mitt romney's own words. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what, who are dependent upon govnment, who lithretiwh believes government has a responsibility to care for them,

who believe they're entitled to health care, food, housing, you name it. they'll vote for the president no matter what. my job is not to worry about these people. >> one of mitt romney's central arguments of the campaign is president obama just has not wyon see policies that have not created the jobs america needs, then you know it's time to choose a new leader, get a new coach. get america growing again. >> romney's spokesperson andrea sal lead out the offial romney line on msnbc today. av cedinne new job. >> that was september 4th. excuse me. today romney lost this argument.

the beareu of labor statistics bsntm h 01a prision tots march of this year. the revised number includes an additional 386,000 jobs. this meansore than 5 million jobs have been added since president obama took office. the bottom line here? there are more jobs now than when the presidentook er for ge wshjay 2009. this has been one of romney's main attacks on the president. and now, it's off the table. romney isn't in a position where he can afford to lose any of his weapons. i think he's scramblin ti all the polls show that. on a personal note i can't wait for the debates. one of the lines being used by the republicans right now, the conservatives is that mitt romney is just this great debater. i mean, he is a great debater. can somebody remind the american peopleand ll do it right twee ary si president obama, let me remind you, is a fierce competitor. he will be prepared. he knows his material. he knows who he is.

he knows his accomplishments and he knows exactly where he wants to take this country. can you really s that about mitt romney? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you thk. tonight's question. cae idsun momentum for 40 days? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.c and leave a comment. we're joined by florida congresswoman, dbi erscz,irth democratic national committee. congresswoman, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. good to be with you again. >> you bet. are democrats very confidentn the ground game that you can duplicate this around the country, wt you ven able eld,rey proud if you look at the contrast between our two campaigns, president obama's campaign has been in the process and we believe successfully has established the most significant dynamic grassroots presidential campaign in history. that's why you see that the offices and the ground game and veose e owoots network that we

and across states in this country. in iowa, president obama was so proud to win iowa in the democratic primary of 2008. he had an organization there that's never left. i can tell you that from now untielection day, i'm looking forward to bei in iowa this weekd. wegototito go door to door and neighborhood to neighborhood to talk to voters about this moving forward. >> give us a snapshot of the swing states and the ground operation. i mean, we just showedhe map 'sheermi the intensity. and the ground game that president obama has got versus the challenger, mitt romney. does it look this way in all of e other swing states? >> well, you know, mitt romney, let's not just disss the orgaza the. when you have a handful of billionaires essentially trying to buy the white house for you, you know, you can pay for a few offices and for some folkso

geout there and knock on some doors. they certainly aren't doing nothin 'vt rgatn there as well. but we're proud that we have a grassroots people powered campaign. one that has folks out there, you know, thousands of door knocks and phone calls and we've got a lot of online outreach that occurs across the country. so we're counting on grassroots operations to help carry president obama across the nishin back to the white house. >> how important is the early voting? do you expect this kind of early vote in all of these states? >> absolutely. early voting is critical. we're thrilled at the early voting organization that we have and the gop effort we have. starting in wa today. we also want to remind ppl thhe go ou there's still time to register to vote in states across the country. go to gottoregister.com. because they can get the information they need to sign up and register to vote. plenty of time left. >> and what about combatting ter ppreion? theee me plan?

is this the best thing you can to? >> you know what we've been doing, at the same time we've been fighting battles of voter suppression legally and been successf through federal courts with judges appointed by republican andemocrati prennog e doclngy ese obstacles, we've not been taking that for granted. we made sure we get the people the information they need to clear those obstacles away themselves and make sure they can gewhat they need to bring to the polls and also what they need to get registered to vote. >> all right. there's been a lot of coersaonngwo about polls and who's ahead. we can't find a poll where mitt romney is ahead. in fact, i made the comment, i would like to be in mitt romney's office because i'd like to see their game plan on how they expect to get there, if you know what mean. what is their roadmap to victory? ohio is ucial. thrl ahe o to vote, obviously what we just talked about, is crucial. does it have to be bigger than 2008 for president obama to win? >> well, you know, i don't want to be -- you don't want to put too much stock in polls 40 days

out, whether we're up, whether we're down, we're concentrating on that ground game. yomenee te earlier in your opening comments, ed. you know, let's not discount the fact that mitt romney is an experienced and illed debater. he -- >> he's been all over the map, congresswoman. i mean, the guy has been all over the map oheal care, on meanhe- >> ed, keep in mind, though, he's a pretty decent closer. he's had a lot of time to prepare for these debates. during the democratic national convention, reportedly he did a week of debate prep camp. he's gone through 48 hours, done five debate prtices. president obama has been praccing but he's goa day job, and he's been trying to balancthat >>othaomn this. he had a week of debate prep? d i must believe that the way he's been talking he's come out more confused from that debate prep than what we've seen. we've seen him stumble all over himself just in the last cycle, he contradicted himself yesterday on health care. speaking to an nbc reporter. >> let's remember, he's going to ep touw,t coming on to the stage with the president of the united states

gives you some gravitas right there. and typically in the first debate -- the challenger was declared the winner. so let's just keep in mind tha we can't take anything for granted. let'focuon t grod . e 40s o. >> you've got a good day one. that's for sure. congresswoman debbie wassermaschultz with us on "the ed show." thanks so much. answer tonight'suestn at the boom of the screen. arurughton twitter hod bo we want to know what you think. coming up, yes, there's another video of mitt romney. it has surfaced and shows his true identity of how he views middle class workers in america. we'll show you the video and robert reich will comment. , ayrehat cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

coming up, mitt romney reveals the real goal of bain capital in a newly discovered video. former labor secretary robert reich has reaction next. and i'll have commentary. and mitt romney says that he

uheat f check the president's ad claims? and tell the truth? we'll have a romney fact check of our own coming up. and george w. bush will pay a visit to the island where mitt romney's moneyives. wehall dls bush's move to the cayman islands for a little trip to talk it over. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're right back. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ that should do it. enjoy your new shower. welcome back to "the ed show." another video hasurfaced showing the real mitt romney. "mother jones" has done it again. thisime invifr bandpa by a former employee.

sometimes they'll get you every time, won't they? the video celebrates the company's 25th anniversary. and includes footage from 1985 of romney talking about bain capital, the spinoff corporation he founded. at the time, bn capital was latily n andne exns cny msion. >> bain capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in startup companies and ongoing companies. then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully five to eight years later to harvest them at a significant profit. the fund was formed on september 30th of last year. it's been about ten months then. it was formed with $37 million in invested cash. >> editing of the video was done prior to "mother jones" obtaining it, but the key phrase in the videotape is this. harvest them at a significant profit. now, this may be no g deal to private equity firms, but let's be very clear.

romney basically is describing an economic model firmly isntbecause they are ass of the ones who suffer. the people that lose their jobs to see them go overseas. that's an economic model. which throws workers to the wolves. romney has been grasping to defend this economic model throughout his campan. >> i'mery proud of the fact thhrou cr ve worked to try and build enterprises, hopefully to return money to investors. there's nothing wrong with profit, by the way. that profit -- that profit -- thatrofi-- that profit went wt to a wide array of institutions. a lot of people benefited from that and, by way, as enterprises become more profitable, they can hire more people. >> romney's words keep clashing with reality. which is why the story of mike ernst, a fmer employee of d, bsoec against romney. >> out of the blue one day, we

were told to build a 30-foot stage. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that th plant is now closed and all of l b ibeeire former labor secretary under president bill clinton, now a professor at public policy at uc beeley, and author of "beyond outrage" now available in paperback. mr. reich, good to have you back wao aer piece from the same 1985 video where mitt romney offers three reasons bain and company decided to create bain capital. here it is. >> three reasons. recognize that we have the pontiato devop significant and proprietary flow of business opportunities. secondly, we had concepts and experience which would allow us to identify potential value and hidden value in a particular investment candidate, and third, we had the consulting resources and managent skills and

management resources tbecome actively involved in the companies we invested in to help them realize their potential value. >> i tell you what, he has the corporate lingo down. we didn't hear one word about creating jobs and we never would under this economic model. yel wul >> en fact, creating jobs, ed, at best is a particular product maybe of a long-term strategy to build new products and also ild new markets and keep americans employed. but that is not the centerpiece of private equity and it's certainly not the centerpiece of baap. when mitt romney was talking art about harvesting and maximizing profits, what he was talking about was a technique of squeezg payrolls. payrolls are 70% of the cost e esy o ezof most coanies. payrolls, get rid of people, cut benefits, to even cut wages. that is too often exactly what

private equity managers do. because you see, they're not out for the long term. th're t oufoe r years, the new products, the new possibilities. they are out to, in the short rm, maximize profits for themselves and for their investors. >> so the connection here is, i believe, personally, that if mittomney were to be president of the united states, he would suppt and advocate legislation thatt wod ma it sieror corporations to do just this, outsource the jobs and he wants to have, you know, right-to-work in every state in america. he's been very clear on at. what does this say to the middle class? not to be fear mongering, but what would this do to the middle cls inhis un

>> well, it's the same set of policy, it's the same outlook, it's the same frame of reference we've seen coming from wall street and corporate america for 30 years now. i mean, even before that, when engine charlie wilson who eisenhower named to defense secretary, sd at's good for rsa, he was ridiculed because most people understood that what is good for the big corporation in terms of profits is not necessarily good for workers, even though at that time gm was unionized and engine charlie's words more likely e fact then than they are right now. the fact is fothe last 30 rporations do better and better and better and yet the median wage has gone absolutely nowhere, adjusted for inflation. most people are more insecure in terms of their jobs and their benefits are drying up. corporate profits should not necessarily come at the expense of workers but, in fac that is exactly what has happeneand e fwothin strategy is at the center of this strategy overall. >> harvest is a very interesting word that he used. it's kind of like lingo,ot a few years ago, you know, the

term "out of the box." i remember back in the '80s when farming wasn't too bad and a certn player harveed so many d esbuness.g to go i the lingo was -- >> when you harvest, the question is, what you leave back in the dirt. after you do the harvesting. >> exactly. >> unfortunately, these days, and ceainly bain capital's technique and e technique of a lo pteitnagers and hedge fund managers and vulture capitalists is to harvest the profits and leave the workers back in the dirt. that's what we've seen. that's what we experienced. it's not hard toonvince americans that that's been going on. they've been living it. >> robert reich, great to have you wi us "thed sw." ksmu coming up, mitt romney explains his winning strategy for the presidential debates. find out why he thinks this election boils down to three issues. his choices just might surpris you. and todd akin keeps on putting his foot in his mouth. today, he calledis opponent unlindca hn uncaged wildcat.

we'll have the latest on the republican disaster in missouri. that's ahead. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety.

♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where thealmost never fight abo money. dar beseht after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's jt common sense. from td ameritrade.

[ male announcer ] the eeedily nimbl riculously agile,de. tight turning, fun to drive 2013 smart. ♪

and we are back. thanks for watching "the ed show" tonigh folks. mitt romney is revealing his stgy wcobe of the biggest nights of his campaign. big numbers here, folks. 52 million people are expected to watch next wednesday's debate

with president obama. and mitt has a plan. he says he's going to go outnd tell the truth. t trentl not be able to continue to mischaracterize my pathway and so i'll be able to describe mine, he will describe his and people will make a choice. >> karl rove loves the idea. he wte today in the "wall street journal," "mr. romn must call out the president and set the cord straight in a presidential tone." sods gd. ro'sen aice to heart. in fact, he says there are three issues he needs to correct the president on. here's the first one -- >> when he says i was in favor of liquidating the automobile industry, nothincould be rthefromhe t. my plan was to rebuild the auto industry and take it through bankruptcy so that could happen. >> oh, really? romney's starting with an easy one here. we know exactly what he thinks about the automobile loan. 08caus wrote about it in

romney said, let detroit go bankrupt. he said, federal money could kill the automobile industry. but the cash injection did what? the absolute opposite. automakers got special financing from theaxpayers. and, of course, michigan's unemployntevelit i lowest point in three years. general motors is reporting profits again. now, mitt romney wants to set the record straight. he says he actually wanted to rebuild the automobile industry by sending it into bankruptcy? maybe romney can explain his ancen thautobile inry vs icn and ohio during the debate. where he is trailing. here's the second thing that mitt romney wants to clear up for all of us out there. >> he says i'm in favor of lowering taxes on wealthy people. no, i'm not. i'm not going to reduce the taxeon tea at l. ac wt to lower taxes on middle income people. he says i want to raise them on middle income people. that's completely inaccurate. >> really?

it will be interest to watch romney set the president straight on his tax cut pl. we spe timon "the ed show" ngfi oowll balance the budget without raising taxes. in fact, romney might have revealed too much about his tax plan to a crowd in ohio yesterday. listen as he tells them not to expect any tax cuts. >> i want to bring the rates -- don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes because i'm going to ler ctns axeon >> romney just said he'd cut deductions and exemptions. hopefully he can give us more facts about how that would help the middle class during the debate. here's the third issue romney wants toact check e pren - >>says i'm opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and the life of the mother. that's wrong. one ad after the other of his has beeneterned to be faually inaccurate. oplynen ll clear his position on abortion during this debate because we're

all confused. you see, in 1994, he said abortion should be safe and legal. in 2002, he said he'd preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. wait a minute. in 2007, romney said he'd be bbonsd toign n, bil and tonight, his campaign website identifies romney as pro-life. me wants to overturn roe v. wade. he supports a personho measure. romney says president obama has, , jgo hll wrong on all of these issues, these three big issues. maybe he can clarify the truth for us coming up on wednesday night. i'm joined tonight by steve benen, msnbc contributor and writer for the maddow og. he kps track of mitt romney's lies in a riesall tt mendacity. great to have you with us tonight, steve. romney's own pollster said last month, we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact

ws eyeb strategy to fact check the president? i find it interesting. >> that's a good question. i was thinking, on the wayver here, how i haven't been in me b areshana long time, but i taking psych 101 and remember learning about something when people identify their most glaring faults and project those faults on to the other people. i'm think this is a great example of that. because mitt romney ha demonstrated over the course of several months as onof the mostho ievee so for him to turn around and say he wants to look forward to using the debates to somehow suggest the president has been dishonest, i think that's a classic example of projection. >> you used the word dishonest twice. mnasouraeco problem with that? when it comes to telling the truth? >> you know, it's funny, you mentioned, i do this series

online at maddowblog.com every fray afternoon chronicling mitt's mendacity. it's quite a list cause at this pnt is getting awfully 'sd veunl the times mitt romney has said something that's just glaringly breathtakingly dishonest, from the economy to energy policy, to national security. it's aounding. i remember paul krugman earlier this year described mitt romney has being almost pathological in thonrage, all things being equal, that's not an unreasonable thing to say. >> can romney make president obama look like a liar? >> it's going to be very difficult. i think it's fair to say that the president has been tough on mitt romney of late. he's running a series of very aggressiveds. u meioneearlr inhe shbohe ad in particular. but all those ads stand up really well to scrutiny. there's nothing in any of the president's ads that haseen plainly untrue.

i ink l caidat andll politicians are going to try and put their own spin on the facts, but the president has been accurate and honest throughout the campaign. i don't think mitt romney can say the thing. >> it's going to be interesting. that's one othe dynamics of the rst debate, how agessi idobwie inout mitt romney on how inaccurate. we'll call it inaccurate or maybe even, he'll use the word dishonest, about his position. steve benen. good to have you with us. thanks so much. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> the missourrepublican who has idea how woman's body wos owliis opntade. and tammy baldwin's campaign is hitting tommy thompson for pledging to do away with medicare. the latest on those senate races, next. and george w. bush is creeping up on mitt romney like a cayman island stingray. toght,e'hou "w just might be mitt romney's october surprise. >> i know the human being and fish can co-exist peacefully.

i i d pain in my abdomen...ing. it just uldn'to away. i s otti it jubut i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my ctor probably saved my life. warning signs arnot e same for everyone. ounketng's tor probably savwrong...fe. see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when this are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. rty mutualnsanceresity

what's your policy? home of the legendary grand prix circuit. the perfect place to bring the all-new cadillac ats to test the 2.0-liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] ♪ der ] 2orpower. thigt tsss the cadillac ats outmatches the bmw. i cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers. ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new cadillac ats.

welcome back to "the ed show." cosstokiele has struck again. this time, the republican senate candidate demeaned his opponent, senator claire mccaskill. akin told "the kansas city star," "i think we have a clear path to victory and apparently clre mccaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the bate which en r against jim talen. she had a confidce and was much more ladylike in 2006. but in the debate friday she came on swinging and i think that's because she feels threatened." republicans are trying to ignore rpoersai est sexistomment. think it's best if the nrsc weighs in on these questions because we're so focused on the presidential." the nrcc spokesperson said, "decline to comment." it gets wors according to "the los angeles times" akin told supporters,

"the first two minutes, wow, it's liksomebody l a wdcat ou tag she was just furious and attacking in every different direction which was a little bit of a surprise to us." you know, it's par for the course, from t candidate who said this -- >> it seems to me, first of all, frhauntaro doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> of course, akin tried to apologize and now that republicans arstruggling to regain t senate, they are starting to throw their support behind the controversial candidate in missouri. yesterday, the nrcc officially endorsed him and the chair of the democratic senatorial campaign committee says the endorsement taints every

republican senate, senator running in this election cycle. >> just a few weeks ago, every one of those republicans said that wt he said was so nsanw ai w so offensive that they could not support him. and they are going to have to answer to the question about why it not offensive today? i think that is a legitimate question that is going to be kenot st oos reblicans who now are going to endorse him or put money in, but of every republican candidate who is running. >> joining me tonight, keli goff, who is political correspondent for root.com and sam ein,olitical reporter for "the huffington post." great toave ou wi keli, you first. how offensive is this? how damaging is it? is it something claire mccaskill has to respond to? >> well, i'd say on a scale 1 to 10, we're heading into, like, 20 territory, ed. i think at a certain point this actually makes me wonder what

st aepcande caatdo tnot get support? right? like, i think at this point we have to start having a competition just to see where the lines of offensiveness, how far we can push these boundaries. parently making rape j doest dot,in misogynistic comments doesn't do it. maybe somebody has to drop the "n" bomb, but with rick perry and the rock thing. >> sam, how does he ovcome this? >> i don't think he does. todd akin should have rule he shouldn't speak about women or wos esaut es him more problems than it's worth. obviously missouri is a conservative state, or trending conservative. it's not going to vote for president obama like it did. claire mcckill has always been in a dog fight with respect to the senate race. you know, if some spec i trs'drog for todd akin not to win because if he ends up in the senate, his image, the stuff that he says, the possibility he can say something even more, you know,

outrageous, that would weigh over the party every day. i don't think they want that. >> and, ed, let's not forget, you know, emily's list has new owe ledi ata of their n that they're supporting, among them, claire mccaskill, are doing very well in the races because of the perception of the gop's stance on women's issues. that's what the polling is indicating. shely berkley's race, elizabeth warren's state. claire mccaskill's race. it's helping democratic female id. >> because the problem is the republican party has very few constituencies left they can rely on. it's primarily old, white men. if you want to alienate women further than they've been alienated in this process, you have politicians like todd akin. they're suffering a nderap. iseswo i know it won't have an effect in the missouri race when it comes to the presidential contest, but it creates an image problem for other races in -- >> that's why nobody wanted to embrace this guy. they have to because they nt to win the senate so bad. here's a new poll. let's take a lk at the iiana senate rac cossjonn t points ahead of state treasurer

richard mourdock. it's in the margin of error. it should set off alarm bells at the nrcs, shouldn'it, sam? >> yeah, i mean, listen, this is a trend not just about indiana. it's about, yoknow, maybe half a dozen states now where we' seeing democtic senate candidatesasically rising up abe reicppts you have to look at larger trends to explain it. one of them i think is almost undiscussed is how the question about who can handle the economy has changed. it used to be obama was suffering a big deficit next to romney with that. since several weeks ago, probably tied to the conntion, those numbers have turned and brand with respect to the economy has become more popular than the republican brand. >> mourdock who has been a hardliner, he's been trying to embrace the moderate positions claiming he's more open to compromise, claiming he will protect social security and medicare. but this is not the same mourdock whoefd ar r hema. are richard lugar and others paying their price for the extremism? >> i would add to what sam said, part of the aftermath of 47%-gate.

it's tough to make the argument you're best on the eco wn you think you should only be working for half of the people on the economy, right? that's how the comments were perceived. to your estion, ed, i want to ad this is not just having a ickle-do effect to other tees the only shot we have at electing a new woman governor is actually -- >> it's ticket-wide, no question. >> who shouldn't be in a neck and neck race, but is, because of what's going on nationally with the gop. keli goff, sam stein. comi up, a hidden video at tt rney ndses sparked controversy about mitt romney's past investments in china. we'll tell you all about it next. ♪

we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. topbelkim for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. up next, new details about mitt romney's past investments in china.

and later george w. bush i stayg aw from the mpaign trail, but his trip to the cayman islands could be a headache for mitt.

when i was back in my private equity days we went to china to buy a factory there. and, boy, about 20,000 people, and they work in these huge factories. they make various small appliances. and as we we walking to this facility, seeing them work, the nuer ohourtheyork for . what they earned, living in dormitories with the little bathrooms at the end, maybe ten rooms. in the rooms they had 12 girls per room. three bunk beds on top of each other. >> welcome back to "the ed show." ecs frys tt rney ver talking about in that clip from the fund-raising dinner in florida, but his account of visiting that factory is renewing interest in his investments in china. and a new report finds the

conditions you just heard mitt romney describe, the long hour, the low wages, the dormitories filled tthe im, re prcathe pitch that had him invest in a company in china back in 1998. the "the boston globe" reports on a document put out by global tech appliances, china based home appliance companyon april 8th, 1998. the document meant to attract inornotee companused expeive labor and peak production periods required six-day workweeks and two ten-hour shifts were day. it also describes the 14 buildings that served as dormitoriefor up to 3,700 workers. by way, the inexpense labor is t ig. an institute says in 1998, global tech employees received a wage of 24 cents an hour. that's less than 2% of u.s. wages at the time. the obal tech document also advertised its low tax liability, being located in china, meant a lower overa effective tax ratehan s. corporations paid at the time.

the company also said the operations would not be suect to material united states taxes because it should not be nsidered to veignificant incomeffeclyne with a trade or business in the united states. guy plays all the angles, doesn't he? so mitt romney, the presidential candidate, who now talks tough on china and says that president obama isn't tough on china, what do you tnk hdiwith all ll ail 17th, 1998, just 9 days after the document was released, brookside incorporated, an affiliatef bain capital, acquired about 6% of global tech. mitt romney was listed as the sole shareholder, sole dirtor, president and o ofrookside rped mitt romney chose to pay less taxes and exploit workers all for a profit. midd classers, you nervous tonight? you ought to be.

tonight in our survey, i asked, can the president sustain his moment for0 days? 99% of you say yes. 1% of you say no. coming up, george w. bush is back. this time he's going to be dancing up a storm in the cayman islands. you won't believe the stunt he's pulling only five days before the election. we'll bring you the details next alnor e 3 art comes with 8,

a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety. droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. wier, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters

copies of my acceptance spch. just pickat! 'saygood brochureo akuanrs in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no to get nasty. here'sr "hk you had a af wh ta" s looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're committed to offering you

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 low-cost investment options-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like our exchange traded funds, or etfs tdd#: 1-800-342550 which now have the lowest tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 operating expenses tdd#: 1-800-5-50 inirpee d#: 1-0-5-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ppatieing expenses tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 lower than spdr tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and even lower than vanguard. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that mns with schwab, tdd#: 1-80345-2550 your portfolio has tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 a better chance to grow. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and you can trade all our etfs online, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 commission-free, fm your schwab account. tdd#805-50 : 0-25 l's talk about saving money, tdd#: 1-80345-2550 with schwab etfs. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 schwab etfs now have the lowest operating expenses tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 in their respective lipper categories. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-800-4schwab tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or visit schwab.com tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to open an account today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 funding is easy tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with schwamobile deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 invests should conside d#: 1-800-5-50 carey rmn td1-80345-2550 contained in the prospectus, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 including investment objectives, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 risks, charges, and expenses. you can obtain tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 a prospectus by visiting tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 www.schwab.com/schwabetfs. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 please read the prospectus tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 carefully before investing. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 [ me noun]theeelybl

ridiculously agile, tight turning, fun to drive 2013 smart. ♪ and the big finish tonight, what to you mean he thought he was gone, never to be heard from again? george w. bush is leaving the ranch for a tropical vacation. just five days before the election. that's right. justeforyo tte w. will be heading down to the cayman islands to remind everyone where mitt romney hides his money. bush will be the keynote speaker at the cayman alternative investment summit. along with billionaire rhard branson. the summit, i guess you could sa la mmerp rich guys. they offer a seminar on, let's see, how to capitalize on asia as an emerging fund superpower. mitt romney would love that one, don't you think?

if you don't like financial regulation, you can attend a a ofen ptinregution and influencing the regulators. can't you just see bush saying, i'm down there to try to make them influence the regulators? republicans have been doing a great job by keeping bush away from this election cle this ectioneason, but bush dn't attendhe gop cvent and he didn't get a lot of mentions there, either. in his videotape appearance, well, was not played in primetime. just when republicans thought that they were rid of w., he's d th timheld costing romney votes right before the election. how's the public going to view this one? for more, let's turn to msnbc political analyst and "bloomberg view" columnist, jonatn alter. >> hi, ed. >> everybody's going to pay ten --reat to ha you wis gh everybody's going to pay attention to what w. says.

what's he going to say about offshore accounts? isn't he kind of walking into a mitt romney minefield here? >> he's not going to say anything about offshore accounts witeers clfr the press as he possibly can. what it does is it reminds voters of what they already know. that they learned about this cayman islands swiss bank account thing months agond it did serious damage to mitt ey it's impossible to tell how much damage. the polls don't actually tell that. but this really -- you could argue before the videotape this did as much as anything to wreck his campaign americs arsmar thigotfincial wizards but they know you don't put your money in the cayman islands just for a good investment. you're puttingt there, you're keep it secret for a purpose to avd taxes.

it's vy hard -- >>his just a badtlig at d . >> terrible. and, but the real problem is what mitt romney did in 2007 before he ran for president at the first time. any rational would-be presidential candidate, the first thing that they would do would be tmake some crifices in their own financial life for aparances stake. >>ure. >> why would he not get any fund he was involved with out of the cayman islands, out of the swiss bank accounts? not be cutting corners with his i.r.a. and all the other things here. it'sust -- it's beyond reason. why he would be exposed this d t epca are saying the same thing. >> well, how angry do you think priebus and mitt romney are at bush for pulling this one? >> they can't be happy. it's almost at this point like mitt romney can't catch a break in this campaign. >>e rely can't. is az th, good to have you with us tonight. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now.